2010-04-16 TPARADISE - Laserfiche WebLink

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KITCHEN: John Kitchen, Post Office Box 5537, Kailua-Kona, HawaiÒi. Good morning, Mr. Commissioner and Members of the Planning Commission. I live in The Pines I, which is to the south of the planned development. I live in Unit No. 40, which is one of about 25 units directly adjacent to the boundary line of the property, so I absolutely have particular interest in this plan, Use Permit. I have lived there for four years. And I have been involved on the board of The Pines Community Association and IÓve also been a board president. I donÓt speak for them; however, I do have an interest in the community beyond the normal. I have a number of concerns to raise in regard to the Use Permit application today. No. 1 relates to the experience of Paradise Retirement HawaiÒi in developing an assisted living facility. I checked the website; I looked for any information I might glean regarding the competency or background of the developer in developing such facilities. I couldnÓt find anything. And why do I ask this question? Well, this is a major proposed development in terms of its scope and scale and size. So my concern is, does the applicant have any previous development to qualify them to do the project? This is not a small single-family home, itÓs no rather large-scale development by Kona standards. The previous developer, Granite Bay, who I spoke to often as my role of, as board president, they had done numerous large developments on the mainland. However, the current project, I could find nothing about, on the website it directs me to a place called Nanea Care in Hilo. And Nanea Care Î I don Paradise Retirement HawaiÒi, but they seem to be by their address and phone number Î has a couple of retirement homes, single-family homes I believe, in Hmkua and in Kurtistown. But in any case, my concern is, does the developer have the competency to build such a project in a beneficial way? And not only in the construction of the project but then in the actual operatio of the project, because as neighbors we would like to see it built well, weÓd like to see it operated well, weÓd like to see it not have negative impacts on us as neighbors living there. So thatÓs a question IÓd like to see answered. I looked through the record for the Planning Commission out in the lobby; I couldnÓt find anything about the developerÓs background there, either. The second and third concerns I have relate to the density and scale of development. I understand the zoning for this property. I believe the scale is a little bit large for it. This map doesnÓt really show; itÓs really not a very big piece of land Î I think itÓs nine acres. In particular the size of the building, I think I would be more comfortable if the buildings were perhaps smaller, meaning two floors rather than three. Three floors, of course, even two floors will require elevators. So that would be my comfort level with that. And the size of the buildings will also relate to the actual construction period itself, which will be problematic for us who live adjacent to the proposed development and for all of the units in The Pines Î there are 91 units in The Pines I. And I say that because a larger building size requires stronger foundations, more lava removal for the foundations and the installation of elevators and so forth, making for a longer construction period than it might be to be expected for another type of development. So during the construction period -. And IÓve lived next to, twice in the last 30 years in Kona, project of this type; normally they take about two years, they create a lot of dust and n itÓs not pleasant to live next door to them no matter what the ultimate outcome might be. So those are basically a summary of my concern regarding the project. 8 EXHIBIT B